WASHINGTON — Long-serving Alaska congressman Don Young apologized to a colleague on the House floor Thursday night for his language during a debate over an amendment about hunting regulations.
At Young's request — and with the agreement of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. — his comments were stricken from the congressional record.
The House was debating an amendment Young offered to a 2018 spending bill, barring the Interior Department from funding a 2015 predator control regulation for National Park Service lands in Alaska. Congress already revoked a similar Obama-era rule for wildlife refuges in Alaska. The regulations have long spurred partisan battles over hunting of bears and wolves.
Jayapal opposed the amendment on the House floor Thursday evening.
"The other side may argue that this is a states' rights issue, but that simply isn't true. These are federal lands and are therefore subject to federal legislation," Jayapal said.
Young responded sharply, saying the "good lady from Washington doesn't know a damn thing what she's talking about."
"Now, I know your side doesn't believe in the states' rights. You don't. I do. My job is to protect my state. Not your state — my state. And what you said a while ago was really nonsense," Young said.
He suggested that she was parroting talking points from the Humane Society, and that Alaska Natives agreed with his amendment.
"You may not know me, young lady," said Young, 84.
That was enough for Jayapal, 51, who interjected.
"The gentleman has already impugned my motives by saying that I don't know a damn thing that I'm talking about," she said. "He's now called me 'young lady,' " she said, and asked that Young withdraw his remarks.
Proceedings on the House floor came to a stop, and a few minutes later, Young headed over to the Democrats' side of the chamber.
Not long after, he crossed back in front of the C-SPAN camera's view and came to the microphone again.
"May I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my offending words? And to the lady, I do apologize. I get very defensive about my state," Young said.
"So I do apologize for my statement. I recognize it was out of order. So I hope you accept my apology," he said.
"I thank the gentleman from Alaska," Jayapal said. "I do accept your apology. I thank you for it. We have obviously some work to get to know each other, but I can tell you that I care about my state as deeply as you do, and I look forward to getting to know you."
The amendment ultimately passed, by a vote of 215-196.
It wasn't the first time Young's brusque ways have garnered attention. He aggressively grabbed the arm of a congressional staffer in 2014 (it was caught on video). He allegedly made threatening remarks to his Democratic challenger, Forrest Dunbar, before a debate that year too.
Young has also gained notoriety for giving a hard time to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, making faces on the House floor, calling California farm workers "wetbacks" and using obscene sexual language in an address to high school students.
And in 2015, Young became a meme all his own when he barreled through a live CNN interview in a crowded hallway.